Tag: Covid 19

Enough

Never forget – Indulge my rant, I don’t do it often.

Posted on by Karac Avalron

Remember this time in our collective history. Remember the pandemic and the voices who demanded cancellation, banning, demonetization. Remember the voices who demanded you be penalized for not conforming to their narrative. Remember the voices who demanded you put something into your body, whether you wanted to or not. Never forget their names, their persona’s, their social media accounts.

These are some of the most dangerous people in the world and the pandemic exposed them.

They are driven by fear, they are weak. These are the types of individuals who will use phrases like “they say” to bolster their arguments as to why you should conform to their desired outcome. You know who they are now, you have no excuses should you chose to engage with them. They were willing to penalize you to the extreme to get their way, will you forget it? Will you offer them quarter when the tide ebbs and in the future they find themselves adrift?

It’s all abstract until you are the one who runs afoul of the narrative. The nature of power is it is all consuming. Those who want it, and taste it, keep pushing for more. Soon even those who wanted you cancelled will be in the cross hairs. Will you come to their aid? Will you stand up for them? Will you recognize that what is happening to them, they themselves tried to do to you?

Plastic destroys the environment
Us vs Them = Garbage

It’s all very dark isn’t it? Its dystopian and it does not bode well for the future discourse. Everyone has a soap box now, a you tube channel, a blog, a podcast. If you were one of those who were advocating penalizing others during one of the most challenging times in our modern social history, you will find many out there who will not forget you.

You typed the words, you created the videos, you made the podcasts, you posted the tweets. You have been exposed, you gave no quarter, and you will get none.

For my frequent readers this is not one of my normal posts and I want to be clear this is not directed at anyone specific. It is more of a cautionary tale really. Consequences is no longer a popular theme in today’s social construct. It’s very rare when it happens, but when it does it can be devastating. Be careful what you say to people, how you frame it, the level of vitriol you emit. The social construct has indeed changed a lot, forgiveness, understanding and compassion are no longer the ideal.

When will the next phase of the social dynamic emerge? Will it be a revisit of our prior ideals or a new harsher one? One based on consequences? I think how we have chosen to treat one another over the last few years is going to have deep social ramifications for many years to come. I for one won’t forget all the noise, the fear mongering, the propaganda, and I won’t forget who was pontificating it. I will never listen to them again.

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Does anxiety make you smarter?

Posted on by Karac Avalron

Well “smarter” being the key word here. It’s a logical leap to say that those with anxiety experience a broad range of emotions so proclaiming emotional intelligence isn’t such a stretch. Actual intelligence/being smarter is often equated to problem solving but navigating complex emotional situations does require a high degree of intelligence. It’s not a topic I have explored a great deal on this blogs anxiety postings but I found a good article here that discusses it more broadly.

From the article: “Do everything you can to avoid situations that might feel stressful, or embarrassing, or a little scary, and then you’ll be less able to deal effectively with those emotions when they do occur. New research backs up that position. A 2021 study found that engaging in a variety of daily activities correlated with experiencing a broader range of emotions, and with it increased levels of happiness and life satisfaction.”

Now that in of itself isn’t a controversial statement. The article doesn’t get to deep into specifics in the prose but it has citations to three different studies supporting the claims made which are pretty decent. The article really reinforces the notion that we all have to be “out there” anyway and emotional intelligence translates into a broader perspective of life which lends itself to a greater ability to muster wisdom. At its core that’s what the article is trying to impart and it achieves it.

This is making my stomach hurt.

For those of us with anxiety it’s challenging to correlate our responses to intelligence. We have been conditioned for decades to equate anxiety as a negative attribute. To assume something is wrong with us if we feel uncomfortable etc. Now there is a fine line and this is what REALLY happens when you go down the anxiety rabbit hole is you discover that anxiety itself is natural and is a gateway to intelligence. The trick is there is no universal threshold it is dependent on the individual based on their accumulation of anxiety over the years.

Simply put, I may have no problem driving in the snow. You might have been in an accident in snow and are far more anxious about it. Do you gain more intelligence then I do from driving in the snow? These are simple concepts but it’s important to make sure we improve our narratives and context on anxiety, and equating anxiety with increased intelligence is a good start.

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How to turn your anxiety into a super power

Posted on by Karac Avalron

For years now I have been doing posts on anxiety where I seek out articles and cite them for the purpose of giving people information. Inevitably many of these articles come boil down to a very simple proposition: change the way you think. I mean anyone with anxiety will tell you If they could do that they would. We get these over simplifications in many areas of life and its tiring. I found an article here that somewhat does this, but gets to the critical aspect of the identification process.

From the article: “Suzuki talks about “the superpower of productivity,” which you can tap into simply by listening carefully to the actual content of your worries. “A very, very common manifestation of anxiety is that ‘what if’ list that comes in your head: What if I get sick with Covid, what if I don’t get an A, what if I can’t remember what the professor said on this part of the test? The superpower that comes with that anxiety-induced what-if list is shifting that into a to-do list,” she explains to Newman. “ 

Chronic Anxiety is like having an itch that you can never scratch.

So the critical point here is identifying the source of the anxiety. Worried about an exam? Study more. I know simple right? The point here is identifying sources of anxiety and attempting to address them directly. This action begins the process of the infamous “change how you think” narrative and why this article is so valuable. You are likely never going to escape anxiety completely but if there are reoccurring issues that create anxiety, identifying them and working toward addressing them directly is going to bare a lot of fruit for your mental state.

Many of us, myself included have a multifaceted issue. Meaning it’s never just one thing, it’s an accumulation of many small issues that converge and lead to intrusive thoughts and debilitating mood swings. Take one issue at a time, if its work, well what part of work specifically? Try and drill down here, get into the weed and really figure out what is driving your anxiety. When you do this you create the conditions by which you can recover faster as you can in many cases address the issue directly and resolve it.

One down, hundreds more to go but its progress….

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Justice

Job Advice: The U.S. Supreme court overturned the OSHA mandate. Now what?

Posted on by Karac Avalron

This blog doesn’t give medical advice as a normal practice. In terms of covid, the vaccine, etc., my best advice to my readers is to visit your primary care doctor and ask their recommendation. I am vaccinated so is everyone in my family, by choice, not by mandate.

So for my foreign readers a quick background. In the U.S. congress (state and federal) passes bills that once signed by the executive (state or federal) become law. The executive branch, in this case the president of the united states can issue what is called an “executive order”. Every modern President does this, it’s not exclusive to democrats or republicans. This practice falls under our constitution, article 2 which essentially empowers the executive branch to enforce laws.

So here we are in 2022. The last high profile order was the OSHA mandate that required employers of over 100 people to require that their employees be vaccinated or submit to regular testing. This was challenged in court and the supreme court upheld the challenge. Meaning the order is now non enforceable. There are a lot of nuances here I am not going to cover but that is the gist of it.

I don’t get it

So now what? As a U.S. worker what do you do if your employer still mandates a vaccine? Really there isn’t much you can do. You can get it, or you can be terminated. Most employment in the U.S. is “at will” employment, meaning either party can terminate the relationship at any time. However, there is one caveat that has to be noted in the current economic climate. The U.S. job market is red hot, essentially there are not enough workers to cover all the jobs available.

Sure the high paying high profile jobs may not be in abundance but in this scenario job openings filter upward. Meaning a supervisor is going to have to fill in for workers if they don’t have enough, managers of those supervisors have to fill in for the supervisors if the supervisors are filling in for the workers, I think you get the point. So as a worker in the U.S. you are in a leverage position at this point in time. Any employer who places a mandate on you runs the risk of losing you as an employee.

So what do you do? Below are 5 things you should do now as a worker in the U.S. to maximize your labor return in the current job market.

  1. Get vaccinated: Being vaccinated makes you a more desirable candidate for a job right now. Companies don’t want to navigate this mine field. This is an asset, and you should be vocal about the fact you have this asset.
  2. Update your resume: Do it now.
  3. See what’s out there: Even if the vaccine mandate issue isn’t a big deal to you, there are a lot of opportunities out there. Now is the time to explore the job market it is a sellers’ market, and you are selling your labor. You might make up to 20% more just by flipping jobs.
  4. Sit down with your current company: Now is a great time to bring up your future with your company. What you want to do where you hope to be. Again remember they need you, this is your chance to make progress toward a professional goal. This labor dynamic will not last forever.
  5. Diversify your skill set: There are so many side hustles now, so many opportunities to pick up work on the side. Companies are desperate for help, diversifying your skill set and learning new industries makes your personal brand more valuable in the future.

Some may say this is taking advantage of the current situation with a pandemic. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that it isn’t, I would be lying to you. I look at this as an opportunity. Let me put it this way. In life there are often people who are given a situation and will complain about it hoping someone will change it for them to make it more favorable. There are others who look at the same situation and figure out how they can best survive and excel.

Be the later in the context of your career. Believe me, if the situation was different and there were more people looking for a job then open positions these companies would squeeze you for as much as they could. The window on this reality is closing, Covid is almost played out. Carpe diem.

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When Anxiety turns into a Panic Attack

Posted on by Karac Avalron

If you have anxiety you might be exposed to, or have had a panic attack. This is the physical manifestation of your anxiety. Often it doesn’t play out as the person think’s it will, meaning the “panic” doesn’t nearly equate to the situation more often than not. However, that doesn’t minimize or negate what is actually happening to you. Panic often delves into physical conditions that impact you negatively. Examples:

  • Shortness of breath or hyperventilation
  • Heart palpitations or racing heart
  • Chest pain or discomfort
  • Trembling or shaking
  • Choking feeling
  • Feeling unreal or detached from your surroundings
  • Sweating
  • Nausea or upset stomach
  • Feeling dizzy, light-headed, or faint
  • Numbness or tingling sensations
  • Hot or cold flashes
  • Fear of dying, losing control, or going crazy

The real problem is these attacks can happen at any time. Literally ANYTHING can be a trigger and this is, for a lot of people where anxiety ends up. They live in fear not of, I don’t know, let’s say spiders, but the PANIC that seeing the spider will invoke. I’ve never had a serious panic attack, I have heard in my life when the subject comes up in my social circle there is an immediate dismissal. “It’s not that bad” or “They made a mountain out of a mole hill”.

Where there is smoke, there is fire.

What that narrative does is it creates the conditions by which someone who might have panic attacks has even more anxiety about it. Our culture celebrates strength and fortitude in essentially all ethnic backgrounds for each gender. Having anxiety that leads to a panic attack doesn’t make you weak, it’s not something you should be ashamed of and if you have people in your life telling you it’s not a big deal you should consider strongly limiting your time with them.

In extreme cases a panic attack can lead to death, either by suicide, heart attack or loss of control of your faculties. BREATHE!

I am not patronizing you, it sometimes is that simple. Even if you are in the middle of a grocery store and you think people are staring at you and you are in full panic, take slow deep breaths. 10 slow deep breaths is a minute of your life, you can do this and any social anxiety you may derive from that 1 minute where you think people are staring at you will dissipate quickly as your panic starts to decrease with every breath.

You aren’t alone, you are not abnormal. You have anxiety and you need to be honest with yourself about it. When in doubt, take a deep breath.

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Finance tip – The Credit Score Secret

Posted on by Karac Avalron

So the first finance piece on the blog for 2022 but the same disclaimer…. I am finance professional with 30 years of experience. That said the views expressed on this blog regarding personal finance are my opinion and any financial decisions you make you should do so after having done your own personal research.

If you live in the western world you have a credit score. Now our friends in the east (our Asian and Australian friends) might have something similar, if they do I am not familiar with what it is but its yet another “number” you are given to identify your financial prowess. Now that we are in the midst of the digital age it is very easy to accumulate data on consumers.

Bitcoin is a game changer

Be under no illusion, every financial transaction you make is being stored in some data base and scrubbed as part of meta data for analytics. How many people bought tooth brushes in Dec as opposed to Feb… That data is then resold to manufactures and other large corporations for great profit. Let’s follow the example a bit further… Let’s assume that in Dec tooth brush sales are 300% higher than Feb. That’s critical information for someone who makes toothbrushes, that could be the lynch pin info that creates high profits for their company. You get the idea.

So you as a consumer are given a credit score. It has been pumped up and built up to be a reflection on your overall prowess as an economic entity. Potential employers will do a “credit check” on you. Some dating sites as part of the vetting system perform these checks as a service for their clients. You even have social conversations (well pre covid anyway) where people would actively talk about their credit score as if it were some bench mark for success.

Here is “The Credit Score Secret”

The credit scores purpose is to grade you on your ability to finance material items you can’t afford

Simply put, your credit score is a benchmark on your ability to make payments on items you can’t otherwise pay for outright. Its far more lucrative for a company to sell you something and have you pay overtime with interest. First, they make more over time due to interest and Second, they can up sell you additional services that complement the original purchase.

The bottom line is, you only need a credit score if you are buying something you can’t afford. In my opinion, the only case you should ever need this is when purchasing a house. You should not be buying other items unless you can pay for them outright, and yes that means cars too. I can bend a little on cars but you don’t need a 50K car, a 10K car will suffice. It’s another illusion the finance industry has created for you.

“Give them a score so they can measure themselves against others”. Its clever, sinister marketing. That score is a curse because it really means you have a high probability of purchasing things you can’t afford and paying for them over time. It’s an indication of how poor at finance you really are, financing a TV, A vacation, a phone… It means you’re willing to pay MORE than the item would normally sell for.

Don’t be fooled by the finance industry. They want you to be good little consumers. “payments” means “interest” and interest is pure profit for them. The item is still worth 20k regardless, but you, because you want it now are willing to pay 30K for it over 10 years because you want it now. Companies love that mentality and that is the “credit score secret”

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Deltacron – The final product?

Posted on by Karac Avalron

If you have anxiety covid has been a disaster. It’s one thing to have to worry about getting sick, its another to have everyone screaming at the top of their lungs about getting sick. It never seems to end either, remember YEARS ago (yes years) when the prevailing narrative was “a few weeks and we will be back to normal”. That’s not happening anytime soon. So we have a new variant discovered and the marketing has already begun. It’s being called “Deltacron” a combo of TWO variants to bring you even more mental anguish.

This ride never ends does it? I mean we can be getting new variants for decades. So is this the final product? I suspect it might be, or the next to last. You see part of this is marketing. Marketing to get you to get vaccinated (which you should) marketing to get you hooked and keep clicking and watching. It’s naïve to think that Covid hasn’t become commercial and political. The media loves this, it gives them an easy story every night which allows for them to run the full gambit of stories. Deaths, illnesses, mask mandates, on and on.

Even vaccinated people get covid.

I know this sounds cynical but this is our reality, I mean at this point you know what covid is you are either vaccinated or you aren’t. Harping on a new variant, how does that change the conversation? Answer = it doesn’t. It’s not meant to. It’s meant to CONTINUE the same conversation and keep tens of millions of people in a state of flux. What other reason could there be? “You’re an anti vaxxer!!!!! Burn it with fire” No I’m not I am vaccinated, lol.

I just see what’s coming, as we’ve seen this play out for a few years now. Don’t believe me? In the next few weeks “Deltacron” will be on the news regularly. Your political “leaders” will talk about it and how you “need to” do X, Y or Z. I hope I am wrong and if I am I will be happy to eat my words. For those of us with Anxiety? No reprieve. You get no rest from the covid onslaught.

You should get vaccinated, you should get a booster, you should wear a mask if other people are uncomfortable. You should also, shut off main stream media. Remove yourself from people who go on and on about covid and what YOU should be doing. Most importantly keep trying to do the things you want to do and try not to let covid permeate every aspect of your life.

Hang in there, the rollercoaster ride isn’t over yet.

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Traveling today no formal post

Posted on by Karac Avalron

I am sitting at my home PC typing this, shirt and tie on. I know…. Today I actually have to travel for business. Its been a while. I used to travel a lot a decade or so a go for work. Got a chance to see a lot of the U.S. as a result. Anyway no formal post today.

As always thanks so much for supporting my blog I really appreciate it. Will be back on Wed with a formal post. Take care.

A Gen X Point of View Blog – 2021 Recap

Posted on by Karac Avalron

So another year is rapidly approaching its end. I think back on my life from time to time and for me my earliest clearest memory is from 1976 (yes I’m ancient) and being in the bicentennial parade. Nearly 50 years later here I am, a blogger. So 2021 was a good year for this blog. Let me be clear though, number of visitors was down 6% views were down 3% from 2020 so statistically its less but 2020 to me was an odd year as many people were forced to be home. We had way more online activity so it’s hard to use that as a metric.

To recap a bit, this blog is one person, me. I don’t have an editor, co-creators, contributors etc. I write all the posts myself, do the research, try to edit. For the most part I am happy with how 2021 played out for the blog. I took the blog in different directions this year with more health and finance pieces and those were largely successful. The focus of the blog still remained Anxiety and Mental Health and to be perfectly candid those posts had less traction then others.

I suspect it has to do with the fact that there is only so many ways to confer Anxiety as an issue, and or people are just sick and tired of reading about anxiety as it seems to be covered a lot more now than when I started a few years ago. My international viewership when up which is great, however the U.S. still remains as my strongest reader base. I am located in the U.S. so that isn’t surprising but it’s nice to know individuals from Australia to Zimbabwe read my blog.

I think 2022 will continue much the same as 2021 did. I will still commit to 3 blog posts a week but honestly that pace might have to slow down in the summer of 2022 as I anticipate work will pick up for me and it’s simply going to be much harder to muster the energy to create 3 unique blog posts a week. I do have a good body of work to pull from and revisit some posts but overall I don’t feel burned out just slightly gassed in the sense the well of material for anxiety posts is starting to run dry.

So what can you expect in 2022 from “A Gen X Point of View?”  Below is a glimpse of the topics I plan to cover.

  1. Anxiety – There will always be a place for this topic on this blog. There may be less in 2022 but not a lot less.
  2. Finance – As a 20+ year finance professional it’s a big part of my life so I am going to talk about it. As a category these posts were among the most viewed on my channel in 2021.
  3. Weight Loss – I haven’t done many posts on this but I did drop nearly 30 pounds since the pandemic and have kept it off. I was never really fat but never really fit either. I am now, at 51 not to shabby. I’m going to indulge myself a little more on this subject, I’m proud of it.
  4. U.S. History – On U.S. holidays I usually do a piece on this historical significance of the holiday. I think I am going to do more of that with the desired approach of NOT getting overtly into politics.
  5. Paganism – Or more likely mythology. Western culture has been converged and condensed for years. Christmas/Yule etc. I’m going to talk about this a little more.

Overall 2021 was nearly the same in terms of visits and views to 2020. I am taking that as a statistical win as 2020 was full pandemic mode. 2021 less so, but I do realize people are still at home and online more. I doubled my subscribers which is encouraging, I would like to hit 1000 of you by the end of 2022 that would be cool. Having goals in life is important IMHO, it’s just a number I realize that. Many of you have 10K plus subs, remember what it was like?

I intend on publishing Mon – Wed – Fri for the mid-term, should things become challenging for me writing wise I may cut back to 2 posts a week but for now expect the status quo. This Blog doesn’t exist without your support. Thank you for reading my content. Thank you for liking and subscribing, if you keep showing up so will I.

Karac.

Genetics

An article from India – Virus anxiety across the world

Posted on by Karac Avalron

It’s no secret that many of the readers of my blog reside in India. All of you are most welcome and thank you for years of support of my blog. As a result of my readership demographics I started reading more articles about India and its culture. I will never be an expert but I think as average everyday Americans go I might have a better understanding of how things are going there than most. I found an interesting article here that discusses briefly some of the anxiety pent up around the world over covid.

How this pertains to my Indian readers is very simple. You have resources/news outlets in your nation that are giving alternative perspectives to the current main stream narrative. I’m not sure if you understand how fortunate you are in that regard. In the states as an example we have strict hard lines drawn socially on covid in the media. There is no objectivity anymore, and people are polarized as a result of it.

Same with Europe to a large degree and Australia? Have you read about what is going on in Australia? The more I read about India and its culture the more refreshing I find its candor. It’s by no means a perfect society but they seem to have this odd way of soldiering through these sometimes crippling social dynamics. I’ve come to appreciate it, I am not sure if it’s some form of macabre humor or their prevalence to be very self-aware (unlike many of your western friends).

Call it any name you want, Anxiety sucks.

The article itself does a decent job of illustrating the issue around the world that the virus (whatever variant/iteration you have currently) has become long in the tooth. Meaning, people are wary of covid and the residual effects of government lockdowns, society pressure etc. It’s an olive branch to the reader really. I took it as “we know it’s hard, take heart its hard everywhere”. I mean how refreshing is that to have your media not scold you on whatever side of the issue you are on and actually offer some empathy?

Maybe I am reading it all wrong, maybe I am super imposing my desired outcome on the article into some broad reaching social narrative that really isn’t there. I don’t know, I don’t live in India. In my neck of the woods? I live in a fairly libertarian part of the U.S. meyered in covid battles from the federal government all the way down to the day to day operations of mail delivery. It’s exhausting and everyone in my social circle (liberals and conservatives) have had enough.

What a wonderful thing it would be to see in the States a major publication takes a conciliatory view and throw everyone a bone like this article does (or what I think it does). I wish my readers and friends in India well, I hope wherever your path leads. I bow to the divine in you, or more simply, Namaste.

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